Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

Last time we spoke about fantasy, we broke down the AFC east, starting with the Super Bowl champion Patriots. This time, we will head west and cover the NFC west, starting with the Super Bowl losing Seahawks.

Seahawks additions/re-signings:

Signed Marshawn Lynch to a 2-year contract extension. Beast mode is staying put in Seattle for, presumably, the rest of the prime of his career. Maybe they’ll remember to give him the ball on the goal line in the 4^th quarter the next time they’re in the Super Bowl. The biggest trade in the offseason saw Seattle acquiring Jimmy Graham from the Saints. This finally gives Russell Wilson a pro-bowl caliber pass catcher and is a huge upgrade for the offense.

Seahawks Losses:

They cut Zach Miller – don’t need him now, and besides, they have the other Willson for 2 TE sets. They also lost center Max Unger (as well as 2015’s first round pick) in the Jimmy Graham trade. This trade is still a net gain for the Seahawks offense, as they already have a center on the roster that filled in for Unger while he was out for 10 games last year.

Seahawks notes:

Michael Bennett wants a new contract after just getting a new one last year. So far, he hasn’t reported to voluntary workouts. The Seahawks haven't made a ton of moves, their roster is already rather stacked (at non-fantasy positions)! They still just have Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse at WR, and added Graham. I think all they need is Wilson and Beast-mode.

Cardinals additions/re-signings:

Signed Mike Iupati, a stellar guard from the 49ers. Iupati is signed to a 5 year deal, so he should anchor their line for quite some time. They also signed LaMarr Woodley, veteran LB who was on the Raiders last year.

Cardinals Losses:

Jonathan Dwyer – after his arrest, that’s a “no duh”. Rob Housler is no longer their TE, but that’s not really a position of great focus on this offense. Antonio Cromartie went back to the Jets. Larry Foote retired, Ted Ginn was released and signed with the Panthers and Darnell Dockett (D-lineman) was released to allow salary cap space.

Cardinals Notes:

The Cards need a QB, and they're going to wind up going with one less as they haven't offered a deal to Ryan Lindley. Maybe they want to draft one? They kept Larry Fitz, and they will ride with Ellington / Stepfan Taylor and Kerwynn Williams at running back.

49ers additions/re-signings:

Torrey Smith signed with the team, leaving the Ravens. He’ll be teamed up with Anquan Bolden for quite the 1-2 punch. Reggie Bush will provide a great change of pace behind an impressive Carlos Hyde. They also signed Darnell Dockett, Jerome Simpson, and of course Jim Tomsula as their new head coach.

49ers losses:

Frank Gore, who seemed eternal in San Francisco, is finally gone and went to Indy. Patrick Willis and Chris Borland both retired due to future injury concerns / they didn't want to destroy their body playing football. They also lost (addition by subtraction?) coach Jim Harbaugh. Mike Iupati went to Arizona, Michael Crabtree signed with Oakland, and they cut Stevie Johnson.

49ers notes:

The biggest change has got to be the coaching staff and the fact that there will be a new system. There's a ton of fantasy potential on this team now, so the 49ers could be in for a big turn-around, if they can get their in-house stuff in order. Of course, if you listen to our podcast, we both basically decided that it’s most likely that the 49ers finish last in the division this year.

Rams additions/re-signings:

Nick Foles is their new starting QB, one would assume, after acquiring him from the Eagles in a trade. They signed Nick Fairley, one of the best DL's in the league who played with Suh and joins the team that had the best line last year. They also added LB Akeem Ayers from the Pats - they will have a great defense again this year. Case Keenum has been signed from Houston as the backup QB, which is a rather important role in St Louis in recent years.

Rams losses:

Sam Bradford & Shaun Hill have been shown the door. I'm sure people in St Louis are saying "good riddance" to these guys. The Rams must be sick of Bradford's annual injuries and swapped him for Nick Foles. I’m not sure if the mad genius Chip Kelly just doesn’t like Foles, or if he has some crazy grand plan with all of his QB’s. What I do know is that the Rams didn’t really upgrade or downgrade their QB situation, but I suspect that Foles has a higher upside.

Rams Notes:

The Rams vs Steelers in week 3 should be sweet, as defense usually is stronger early, before the offenses can get rolling. Games that feature strength vs strength are always entertaining. They still only have Kenny Britt and Tavon Austin, so the receiving core is awful for now. Jared Cook is not likely to pick up the slack (ala Jimmy Graham). Tre Mason is still a bit unproven, but could be excellent if there are other playmakers on the offense to take some attention away from him. This is all going to be on Nick Foles to make something out of the offense.

Bitcoin has been one of the rising stars of the internet over the past couple of years. It started back in 2009 when you could use your own computer to reasonably mine for bitcoins and just one coin was worth basically nothing. Bitcoin, or more likely something similar, has the potential to change the way that the world economy works (though not for many, many years to come). Recently, Dave and I sat down on our Retrospectical Podcast to discuss bitcoin.

(Retrospectical Podcast Episode 07: Bitcoin - What is it & How do we use it?)

Like any currency, bitcoin is made stronger when it has a large user base and has a stable value. Unfortunately, Bitcoin currently has neither of these traits, but as a brand new technology, it’s not expected to have these right away. Nevertheless, Bitcoin is still relevant because it’s the world’s first widespread electronic cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are cheaper, more secure and easier to use than traditional paper money.

Bitcoin is vastly more accessible to the entire world, when compared to traditional currencies. Only 7% of adults in developing nations have credit cards and 41% of them have bank accounts (compared to 89% in the developed West). Compare this to access to cellular phones, of which there are nearly 7 billion worldwide. According to the UN, more people have access to a cell phone than have access to a modern toilet. The point here is that there is already infrastructure in place in order to deliver banking services via Bitcoin to the entire world. This is especially beneficial when you consider that half of the world’s population doesn’t really have access to any banking services, even if they wanted it.

The decentralized design of Bitcoin keeps it from being controlled by one entity, like the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States. In this manner, the only changes to the currency are those that are accepted by a majority of the users. The decentralized nature spreads the computing power needed to run the network out across the entire world. This assures that a single entity would not be able to take over the network unless they had more computing power than the rest of the network combined, which is basically impossible.

All Bitcoin transactions are anonymous, but they are far from secret. The bitcoin network has a public ledger called the block chain (read more about it here). This is basically a list of every transaction that every bitcoin has been involved in from its creation. This feature is important because basically every computer on the network must agree that the block chain is correct, thus preventing someone from trying to falsify their copy of the block chain. For more info about the block chain and how bitcoins are created, check out the wiki section on mining, or the article on the bitcoin wiki.

Bitcoin can easily take the place of credit card transactions (maybe debit cards would be a more direct replacement, as Bitcoin does not extend credit to consumers). Bitcoin is vastly cheaper for the merchant than traditional credit cards, with transaction fees either being a fraction of credit card fees or completely nonexistent. Bitcoin can also be spent like cash, enabling a practical micropayment system that doesn’t have to be specific to one company or website.

You can spend bitcoin in denominations down to 1 Satoshi, which is 1/100,000,000^th of a bitcoin. For reference, at the time of writing, $1 US is equal to about 410,000 Satoshi (where 1 bitcoin is equal to about $244 US). As a unit of measurement, a Satoshi is not very relevant today, but could be in the future once bitcoin is more widespread and has experienced some built-in deflation.

Today, some people think of bitcoin as an investment. This is mostly due to the volatility in the price and it should be noted that bitcoin is NOT an investment tool. Bitcoin is meant to be used as a currency, and is strongest when people use it as such and don’t treat it as a commodity. Over time, the value will stabilize and it won’t be something that people acquire as an investment, but something that people use as a tool.

Currently, most places to spend your bitcoins are websites, which doesn’t help out the saying that bitcoins “not money for the internet, it’s the internet of money”. Some of the larger websites that accept bitcoin are Expedia, Tiger Direct, Overstock.com, and Malwarebytes. Paypal has also set up an option for their merchants to be able to accept bitcoin now, enabled by just a click of the mouse.

Bitcoin has really not penetrated the brick and mortar stores yet. A quick yelp search only turns up one place in Chicago to spend your bitcoins (though there’s likely more) and just a handful of places in New York City. At least in New York City you can go to the Bitcoin Exchange and buy or sell bitcoins, or use a bitcoin ATM (also a few in Chicago).

So, what does the future have in store for bitcoin? Currently, it would be a stretch to even call the people using bitcoin today early adopters. For the most part, bitcoins do not appear to be used for commerce, though that is changing. I hope that the lunatic fringe gives way to the early adopters and that leads to a worldwide, easily used, and universally accepted cryptocurrency that can be controlled by the people and not a single organization. Call me an idealist, I don’t care, I just think that things can get a lot better with technology.